Russell Westbrook has had a down year with the Los Angeles Lakers this season, and there’s no doubt that many have criticized his style of play and fit with the team. Currently, Russell Westbrook is putting up 18.1 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 7.3 APG on the season.
There is no doubt that Russell Westbrook is still a solid point guard, but he has simply been unable to make it work next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Some, like analyst Skip Bayless, have suggested that Russell Westbrook’s role on the team needs to change, with him suggesting that Westbrook should be the 6th man for the team.
It’s just a wrongheaded fit. It will not work and I feel sorry for everybody involved. So you gotta figure out what’s the best way to utilize him… He needs to be Manu Ginobili but he will not accept being 6th Man of the Year.
He could win 6th Man of the Year, if right here right now he said “I will lead the shock troops. I will come off the bench at the 6 minute mark of the first quarter, and I will still get my 30 minutes, but I will do it leading mostly the second team, and we will crush. We will come in and change the flavor of the game. We will go 1000 miles an hour, and the tempo will change, and we’ll go on runs that will have Staples on its feet.”
That’s who Russ could and should be at this stage of his career. To me, that’s the best fit.
However, it seems as though Russell Westbrook is opposed to changing his role on the team. NBA insider Marc Stein has recently stated that “there has been no shortage of defiance” from Russell Westbrook “when coaches and teammates have tried to broach changes in role or approach” with him. It seems as though there is also “tension” in the locker room, and Stein claimed that it is “impossible” to bring Russell Westbrook back to the Lakers next season based on those mentioned tensions.
Jousting with reporters in press conferences is apparently not the lone source of pushback these days from under-fire guard Russell Westbrook. There has been no shortage of defiance behind the scenes, I’m told, when coaches and teammates have tried to broach changes in role or approach with the former MVP. For all the obvious complexities involved in trying to move Westbrook when he’s owed a whopping $47 million next season at age 34, one league source described the idea of bringing him back next season as “impossible” based on current tension levels. The question then becomes: If the Lakers can’t construct a palatable trade, do they try to just buy Westbrook out? Or waive and stretch him?
The Los Angeles Lakers are currently 27-35, and they are the 9th seed in the Western Conference. They are a play-in tier team and could potentially make the playoffs, but there’s also a chance they could miss the playoffs entirely if they keep losing games.
Hopefully, we see Russell Westbrook figure things out in the future. He can still provide some impact on games with his playmaking and rebounding. The Los Angeles Lakers will need some improvement from Russell Westbrook if they are to rally and make a late-season run, and perhaps we’ll see some change in his play in the coming weeks.
